The closing of the 69th Venice Film Festival this evening was awash in scandal, and the preamble to the prizes appears to have had its share of confusion as well. Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master took the most kudos with the Silver Lion for directing and a shared best actor Volpi Cup for Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix. However, a person close to the process confirms to Deadline that the jury originally wanted to give the top prize Golden Lion to The Master, but the panel was hampered by rules that don’t allow for one film to be too heavily weighted. So, tonight, the Golden Lion was given to South Korea’s Kim Ki-duk for redemption story Pieta. That film was very well-received during the festival and indeed was the one that most considered a challenger to The Master. But it’s a scandal this does not reflect the Venice jury’s true intent.

Meanwhile, at the Lido’s Sala Grande tonight, the jury mixed up the Silver Lion for best director and the special jury prize between The Master and Ulrich Seidl’s absurdist religious tale Paradise: Faith. Ultimately, it was Anderson who won the Silver Lion and Paradise: Faith which snagged the jury prize. Hoffman had just jetted in from Toronto, and had already said his thanks for the jury prize on behalf of Anderson, before bouncing back up to the stage to collect the Lion when the mistake was noted. He had also accepted the acting awards on his and Phoenix’s behalf.

Hadas Yaron took the Volpi Cup for best actress in Rama Burshtein’s Israeli arranged marriage drama Fill The Void. Olivier Assayas won for best screenplay for his 1970s-set French film Après Mai. Daniele Cipri was recognized for technical achievement for Italy’s E Stato Il Figlio and Fabrizio Falco was named best emerging talent for the same film.

Wang Bing’s documentary Three Sisters was named the best film in the Horizons section where the jury prize went to Frederic Fonteyne for Tango Libre.

Among the parallel prizes, Anderson’s The Master won the FIPRESCI Award for best film that’s handed out by the International Federation of Film Critics. FIPRESCI also honored Horizons selection L’Intervallo by Leonardo Di Costanzo. The SIGNIS Award, presented by the World Catholic Association for Communication, honored Terrence Malick’s divisive To The Wonder and gave special mention to Fill The Void. The Queer Lion went to Jeon Kyu-Hwan’s The Weight.

COPPA VOLPI
for Best Actor:
Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix
in the film THE MASTER by Paul Thomas Anderson (US)

COPPA VOLPI
for Best Actress:
Hadas Yaron
in the film LEMALE ET HA’CHALAL by Rama Bursthein (Israel)

MARCELLO MASTROIANNI AWARD
for Best New Young Actor or Actress to:
Fabrizio Falco
in the films:
BELLA ADDORMENTATA by Marco Bellocchio (Italy)
and È STATO IL FIGLIO by Daniele Ciprí (Italy)

AWARD FOR BEST SCREENPLAY to:
Olivier Assayas
for the film APRES MAI by Olivier Assayas (France)

AWARD FOR THE BEST TECHNICAL CONTRIBUTION (CINEMATOGRAPHY) to:
Daniele Ciprì
for the film È STATO IL FIGLIO by Daniele Ciprì (Italy)

LION OF THE FUTURE – “LUIGI DE LAURENTIIS” VENICE AWARD FOR A DEBUT FILM
Lion of the Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film Jury at the 69th Venice Film Festival, chaired by Shekhar Kapur and comprised of Michel Demopoulos, Isabella Ferrari, Matt Reeves, Bob Sinclar has decided to award:

LION OF THE FUTURE – “LUIGI DE LAURENTIIS” VENICE AWARD FOR A DEBUT FILM to: